The merchant of Venice-

Venice - II
I
• Portia examines the bond, and interprets in anew.
• Shylock, overjoyed so far, friends himself trapped.
• The young lawyer wins wide applause
PORTIO now asked Shylock to let her look at the bond. When she had read it, she said, "By this bond the moneylender may
lawfully ask for a pound of Antonio's flesh." Then she asked to Shylock, " Be merciful; take the money, and allow me to tear up
the bond."
But Shylock said, "Nothing on earth will make me change my mind."
"Why, then, Antonio," said Portia, “You must prepare yourself for the knife." And while Shylock was sharpening a
long knife with great eagerness to cut off the pound of flesh, Portia said to Antonio, "Have you anything to say?"
Antonio calmly replied that he had nothing to say. He had prepared himself for death. Then he said to Bassanio, "Give
me your hand, Bassanio! Goodbye. Grieve not that I have fallen into this misfortune. Remember me to your honorable wife,
and tell her how I have loved you!"
Bassanio in the deepest sorrow replied, "Antonio, I am married to a wife who is as dear to me as life; but life itself, my
wife, and all the world, are not valued by me above your life. I would lose all; I would give all to this devil here, to save you."
And then Gratiano, who loved to copy what his lord did, said, in Nerissa's hearing, "I have a wife whom I love dearly. I
wish she were in heaven. If she could but beg some power there to change the cruel temper of this moneylender."
"It is well you wish this behind her back, else you would have trouble in your house," said Nerissa.
Shylock now cried out, " We are wasting time. I pray you pronounce the sentence." And now every heart was full of
grief for Antonio.
Portia asked if the scales were ready to weigh the flesh. She said to Shylock, "You must have some doctor ready, lest he
bleeds to death."
Shylock was hoping that Antonio would bleed to death. He said, "It is not mentioned in the bond."
"Well," said Portia, "a pound of Antonio's flesh is yours. The law allow it, and the court gives it to you."
Again Shylock cried out, "What a wise and upright judge! A Daniel comes to judgment!" And then he sharpened his
long knife again, and looking eagerly at Antonio, said, "Come, prepare!"
"Wait a little," said Portia; "there is something else. This bond here gives you no drop of blood. The words are 'a pound
of flesh'. If in securing your pound of flesh you spill one drop of his blood, your land and goods are, by the law, to be taken
from you and given up to the State of Venice."
It was impossible for Shylock to cut off the pound of flesh without spilling some of Antonio's blood. Everyone in the
courtroom admired the wonderful wisdom of the young lawyer, and cried out in joy. Gratiano said, "What a wise and upright
judge! A Daniel comes to judgment!"
Shylock, finding himself beaten, said that he would take the money, and Bassanio cried out, "Here is the money!"
But Portia stopped him saying, "Wait. There is no haste. The moneylender shall have nothing but what is in the bond.
Therefore get ready, Shylock, to cut off the flesh. But, mind you, spill no blood. And if you cut off more or less than just a
pound, you are condemned by the laws of Venice to die, and all your wealth will become the property of the State."
"Give me my money, and let me go," said Shylock.
"I have it ready," said Bassino. "Here it is."
Shylock was going to take the money when Portia again stopped him, saying, "Wait. I have yet another hold upon you.
By the laws of Venice, your wealth will go to the State for having plotted against the life of one of its citizens. And your life is at
the mercy of the Duke. Therefore, down on your knees, and ask him to pardon you.”
the other half goes to the State.”
Antonio said that he would give up his share of Shylock’s wealth, if Shylock would sign a bond to give it at his death
to his daughter and her husband, a friend of Antonio’s.
Shylock agreed to this, and very sorrowfully said, “I am ill. Let me go home. Send the bond after me, and I will sign
over half my riches to my daughter.”
“Go, then,” said the Duke, “and sign it; and if you are truly sorry for your cruelty the State will forgive you the fine
of the other half of your riches.”
 II
• The lawyer takes Bassanio’s wedding ring as a souvenir.
• The lawyer’s young clerk coaxes Gratiano into parting with his ring.
• At the grand reunion in Portia’s villa, admonitions give way to fun, frolic and happiness.

THE Duke now set Antonio free, and with his consellors left the court. Bassanio said to Portia, “Most worthy gentleman, my
friend Antonio and I have by your wisdom been saved. I requested you to accept the three thousand pounds due to the
moneylender.”
Portia would not accept the money, but when Bassanio still pressed her to accept a present, she said, “Give me your
gloves. I will wear them for your sake.” And when Bassanio took off his gloves, she saw the ring which she had given him. She
said, “And for your gratitude I will take this from you.”
Bassanio was sorry that lawyer should ask for the only thing he could not part with. He replied that he could not give
him that ring, because it was his wife’s gift and he had promised never to part with it. But he added that he would give him the
most costly ring in Venice. At this Portia pretended to be angry and left the court in the huff.
“Dear Bassanio,” said Antonio, “let him have the ring,” Bassanio, ashamed to appear so ungrateful, relented, and
sent Gratiano after Portia with the ring. And then the ‘clerk’, Nerissa, who had also given Gratiano a ring, asked for his ring,
and Gratiano unwillingly gave it to her. And there was laughing among these ladies to think, when they got home, how they
would charge their husbands with giving away their rings to some other women.
Portia, when she returned, was in that happy frame of mind which comes from a good action. She enjoyed everything
she saw. The moon seemed to shine more rightly than ever before. And when the moon came behind a cloud, she saw a light
from her house at Belmont and she said to Nerissa, “That light we see is burning in my hall. How far that little candle throws
its beams––so shines a good deed in a naughty world.” And hearing the sound of music from her house, she said, “By
night music sounds much sweeter than by day.”
And now Portia and Nerissa entered the house, and dressing themselves in their own clothes, waited for their own
clothes, waited for their husbands, who soon followed them with Antonio.
Suddenly Nerissa and her husband started quarrelling in a corner of the room.
“A quarrel already?” said Portia. “What is the matter?”
Gratiano replied, “Lady, it is about a poor little ring that Nerissa gave me.”
“What does the value of the ring matter?” said Nerissa. “You swore to me that you would keep it till the hour of
death. Now you say to gave it to the lawyer’s clerk. I know you gave it to a woman.”
“By my honour,” replied Gratiano, “I gave it to a by no taller than yourself. He was a clerk to the young lawyer
who saved Antonio’s life. The boy accepted it for fee, and I could not for my life say ’no’ to him.”
Portia, hearing this, pretended to be very angry, and accused Bassanio of giving away her ring to some other woman.
Bassanio was very unhappy to have made his dear wife angry. He said, ”No, by my honour, no woman has it, but a
lawyer, who refused three thousands pounds and asked for the ring instead. What could I do, dear Portia? I was so filled with
shame that I was forced to send the ring after him. Pardon me, good lady. Had you been there, I think you been there, I think
you would have taken the ring off me to give I to the good lawyer.”
“Ah!” said Antonio, “I am the unhappy cause of these quarrels. I once did lend my body for Bassanio’s sake; and
but for him to whom your husband gave the ring, I should have now been dead. I can promise you, your husband will never
more break his faith with you.”
“Then,” said Portia, “give him this ring, and ask him to keep it better than the other.”
When Bassanio looked at this ring, he was surprised to find it was the same he had given away. And then Portia told
him how she became the young lawyer, and Nerissa her clerk. And Bassanio found, to his great wonder and joy, that it was by